SARUP assisting with Milwaukee’s Net-Zero Energy Homes $3.4 million project
UWM’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning is a key partner in a new $3.4 million grant awarded to the city of Milwaukee by the U.S. Department of Energy. Milwaukee is using the grant to develop 25 all-electric, Net-Zero Energy Homes on vacant lots in three disadvantaged communities.
For SARUP’s part, Professor Mo Zell and Associate Professor Alex Timmer have secured a $400,000 grant to study various pre-manufactured housing systems as a sub-award to the larger grant awarded to the City of Milwaukee.
Timmer and Zell will construct mockups of each system, testing them against a range of criteria, including constructability, energy performance, embodied carbon, and cost. This research will assist the City of Milwaukee in identifying viable manufacturing partners and construction systems for the project. The funding will support the construction of mockups, education for students and industry professionals, community and developer engagement, and the creation of course content related to net-zero ready homes.
In September, Zell spoke at a news conference featuring Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson and other project partners at Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity. She thanked the city of Milwaukee for its longstanding partnership with UWM and spoke about her team’s role of designing, constructing and fabricating a series of wall systems as research and educational tools.
“For several years, SARUP has been offering the Habitat for Humanity studio focused on the design of new prototypes for Habitat for Humanity,” Zell said. “With this new funding, we can now move closer to a second phase in addressing the affordable housing crisis by engaging our students and faculty in the construction of net-zero affordable homes in Milwaukee.”
The Milwaukee project is part of a larger project, Communities Sparking Investments in Transformative Energy, that awarded over $31 million to 12 local governments and tribes to support implementation of high-impact clean energy projects.
